Has Alex Smith proved to be the 49er's QB of the future?

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
He sucked against Detroit and St. Louis. That tells you somethin right there.

Yeah I mean 97.5 and 97.6 rating really sucks, you know what that tells everyone...that you know nothing about football,lol.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by dj43:
Here's the key thing for me with Alex Smith:

There is NO other realistic option for next season than to give Smith every available chance to succeed. Right now the 49ers finally have some young offensive talent with the potential to be pretty good next year. Crabtree and Davis are the obvious one, but I haven't given up on Morgan or Hill either although a true speed guy would be nice.

The real key is Frank Gore. He will be going into this fifth season, which means he will be already past the average career length for a RB. The 49ers cannot afford to start experimenting with a rookie or castaway FA from some other team while using up the remaining fuel in Frank's tank. (Frank the tank. get it?)

If Smith makes only a 20% improvement next year, he will easily exceed what could be expected of a rookie (Nate Davis is still a rookie).

There are NO realistic options in FA at QB. In this league, there are only 10 teams that are truly settled at QB. (Warner and McNabb are at the end of their careers) Only 12 overall had a rating of 90 or better. The rest of the teams have players like Matt Hasselback or David Garrard filling in until the Savior arrives. Smith will finish with a rating of about 82 which puts him #19 in the league. Considering the very high number of drops he had, his rating would go much higher if the drops were reduced to only average.

However, rating isn't my main point. Any other option, would require yet another building year in which Frank Gore would, once again, be expected to be the main weapon on offense. For a guy entering his fifth season, who absorbs as much punishment as his style draws, that would be inviting disaster.

No, Alex Smith as the pre-assigned starter for 2010 is the only logical option. With improvements in OL play and some first-string time with the young receivers through OTAs, training camp and pre-season, he will be good enough to take this team to the playoffs next year.

Let's just hope he helps us win those extra 2 or 3 games to put us into the playoffs.

Sigh, time to look forward to FA and the Draft. We were fairly silent in Free Agency last year. It will be interesting to see what we do with Franklin and if we bring in a top FA OL. I think we have good cap room.

FA will be interesting considering the cap situation. I am not overly optimistic that there will be a great deal of talent available in positions of need. Keeping Franklin may be the most important FA move they could make. He doesn't have as many miles as most because he didn't play much until he came here.

But to Smith, I would not be opposed to drafting another QB in the 4th or 5th rounds after allowing Hill to leave, depending on who is available at the time. I'm not willing to sit with only Hill and Davis for the future. If Smith develops to where the extra guy is expendable, then there is trade bait.

Honestly, having a backup QB who can win you games is vital. Hill will stay considering how important making the playoffs will be next year for McCloughan. I don't think he can afford to have Smith start with no legit backup. If Smith gets hurt, the season is over but if Hill is here, then he may sustain the progress in the team.

I'm OK with keeping Hill, if he wants to stay. I don't recall his status for next year. I certainly agree a quality backup is vital, in any situation.

My main thing is that it has been 5 years and he should have developed better instincts on the field in terms of play making with his feet. He and his agent bargained with this team to pay him for his athletic ability and we have yet to see him use his feet effectively.

I just don't think we will ever really see a scrambling or mobile QB.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by dj43:
Here's the key thing for me with Alex Smith:

There is NO other realistic option for next season than to give Smith every available chance to succeed. Right now the 49ers finally have some young offensive talent with the potential to be pretty good next year. Crabtree and Davis are the obvious one, but I haven't given up on Morgan or Hill either although a true speed guy would be nice.

The real key is Frank Gore. He will be going into this fifth season, which means he will be already past the average career length for a RB. The 49ers cannot afford to start experimenting with a rookie or castaway FA from some other team while using up the remaining fuel in Frank's tank. (Frank the tank. get it?)

If Smith makes only a 20% improvement next year, he will easily exceed what could be expected of a rookie (Nate Davis is still a rookie).

There are NO realistic options in FA at QB. In this league, there are only 10 teams that are truly settled at QB. (Warner and McNabb are at the end of their careers) Only 12 overall had a rating of 90 or better. The rest of the teams have players like Matt Hasselback or David Garrard filling in until the Savior arrives. Smith will finish with a rating of about 82 which puts him #19 in the league. Considering the very high number of drops he had, his rating would go much higher if the drops were reduced to only average.

However, rating isn't my main point. Any other option, would require yet another building year in which Frank Gore would, once again, be expected to be the main weapon on offense. For a guy entering his fifth season, who absorbs as much punishment as his style draws, that would be inviting disaster.

No, Alex Smith as the pre-assigned starter for 2010 is the only logical option. With improvements in OL play and some first-string time with the young receivers through OTAs, training camp and pre-season, he will be good enough to take this team to the playoffs next year.

Let's just hope he helps us win those extra 2 or 3 games to put us into the playoffs.

Sigh, time to look forward to FA and the Draft. We were fairly silent in Free Agency last year. It will be interesting to see what we do with Franklin and if we bring in a top FA OL. I think we have good cap room.

FA will be interesting considering the cap situation. I am not overly optimistic that there will be a great deal of talent available in positions of need. Keeping Franklin may be the most important FA move they could make. He doesn't have as many miles as most because he didn't play much until he came here.

But to Smith, I would not be opposed to drafting another QB in the 4th or 5th rounds after allowing Hill to leave, depending on who is available at the time. I'm not willing to sit with only Hill and Davis for the future. If Smith develops to where the extra guy is expendable, then there is trade bait.

Honestly, having a backup QB who can win you games is vital. Hill will stay considering how important making the playoffs will be next year for McCloughan. I don't think he can afford to have Smith start with no legit backup. If Smith gets hurt, the season is over but if Hill is here, then he may sustain the progress in the team.

I'm OK with keeping Hill, if he wants to stay. I don't recall his status for next year. I certainly agree a quality backup is vital, in any situation.

If we want him, he will be here, no one else wants him.

I continue to be baffled by this argument. He. Will. Be. The. Starter. In. 2010. Interestingly enough, WE don't make the decision. Singletary does. And did. We are not drafting a QB in Round 1. We are drafting to make the TEAM better, which, oh my god! here's a crazy concept -- helps the QB play better!

Originally posted by chico49erfan:
I continue to be baffled by this argument. He. Will. Be. The. Starter. In. 2010. Interestingly enough, WE don't make the decision. Singletary does. And did. We are not drafting a QB in Round 1. We are drafting to make the TEAM better, which, oh my god! here's a crazy concept -- helps the QB play better!

Agreed, we just have a bunch of fellow fans that think they know better than the professionals. There are some that cannot see that he has gotten better, but it only makes them look like ignorant, so let them maintain their ridiculous stand that players never improve.

I think the main thing about Alex that is never going to change. He is sporadic. His incompletions comes in bunches. He can go several series where he is high and or behind on EVERYTHING. Then he can go on for several series where is fairly accurate, though I never see him dead on sharp for more than 1 pass here or there.

I don't see this ever changing for Alex. So all other aspects of this team better be hitting on all cylinders while Alex is slumping, if not, games will most likely be lost.

Take the final 2 games for example. Alex Smith looked like absolute dog s**t for much of those games...but since the teams we happened to be playing were called the Rams and the Lions, the Niners were able to recover.

One last thing. It does not seem to be the opponents who force Alex into his funks. It almost seems self imposed, his own mind in overdrive. Alex can look like a solid QB against the best teams in the NFL, while looking like a career backup against horrible defenses.

Anyone who still is not use to this behavior after 5 years, fret not, you are probably going to get another 5 years of it

I think he has played well enough to be the starter next year . After missing nearly two years of football he has played really well. And for having this nightmare of a OL he has played very well. The 49ers need to grab some OL in the draft and sign anoher that is on the market . But with the OL and his top WR a rookie that came in way late , I'm very pleased on how Alex played .

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
He sucked against Detroit and St. Louis. That tells you somethin right there.

Yeah I mean 97.5 and 97.6 rating really sucks, you know what that tells everyone...that you know nothing about football,lol.

yeah his performance against the Lions was the 11th best performance out 14 Qbs who played the lions this year.

And I went to the game yesterday and I was thoroughly impressed with the 23 yards of total offense in the 1st half.

Why bother replacing the OL maybe they just need some continuity?

This bandwagon crashed and burned in Seattle.

Keep living the dream Stans.

Drafting another quaterback is not the answer since none of the QBs out there really impress me. Don't want to risk another pick being thrown down the tube. Picking up and OL and DL that can cause havoc without scheming to make hime look good is more imperative.

Also, unless a QB appears on the FA market like Brett Farve, we are likely stuck with Alex for one more year, but in answer to your question, no, Alex is not the long term answer. I have seen him too many times screw up when there wasn't any pressure on him. He is as he has always been, inconsistent. In fact, he will start next year but if he remains inconsistent, Davis might get his chance sooner. I expect Smith to keep the seat warm for one more season for Davis or someone else.

The other problem of course is Raye as the O-Cordinator, his schemes fool no one and scare no one, he is so damn predictable.

I'd love to see us get Suh and a starting tackle-afraid however that we can't have both even if we threw in the other picks. Any body know where Suh is predicted to go?

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by chico49erfan:
I continue to be baffled by this argument. He. Will. Be. The. Starter. In. 2010. Interestingly enough, WE don't make the decision. Singletary does. And did. We are not drafting a QB in Round 1. We are drafting to make the TEAM better, which, oh my god! here's a crazy concept -- helps the QB play better!

Agreed, we just have a bunch of fellow fans that think they know better than the professionals. There are some that cannot see that he has gotten better, but it only makes them look like ignorant, so let them maintain their ridiculous stand that players never improve.

The question specifically was has he "proved to be the 49er's QB of the future?"

Now you could just look at 2010 as the future, but I interpret the question as a longer term question. He will need to play a lot better in 2010 to keep the team from not continually looking at other prospects until they have a long term answer.

Originally posted by danimal:
I think the main thing about Alex that is never going to change. He is sporadic. His incompletions comes in bunches. He can go several series where he is high and or behind on EVERYTHING. Then he can go on for several series where is fairly accurate, though I never see him dead on sharp for more than 1 pass here or there.

I don't see this ever changing for Alex. So all other aspects of this team better be hitting on all cylinders while Alex is slumping, if not, games will most likely be lost.

Take the final 2 games for example. Alex Smith looked like absolute dog s**t for much of those games...but since the teams we happened to be playing were called the Rams and the Lions, the Niners were able to recover.

One last thing. It does not seem to be the opponents who force Alex into his funks. It almost seems self imposed, his own mind in overdrive. Alex can look like a solid QB against the best teams in the NFL, while looking like a career backup against horrible defenses.

Anyone who still is not use to this behavior after 5 years, fret not, you are probably going to get another 5 years of it

I'm open to see how he does next year. Especially after he said that he will spend a good deal of the off season working on his fundamentals. PEACE FROM THE FAN

Originally posted by Joecool:
My main thing is that it has been 5 years and he should have developed better instincts on the field in terms of play making with his feet. He and his agent bargained with this team to pay him for his athletic ability and we have yet to see him use his feet effectively.

I just don't think we will ever really see a scrambling or mobile QB.

Five years with 2 and 1/2 years being hurt. Plus he's not had the same receivers and the same offensive system or OC.

Well i look at it like this. Smith is the Qb for now. He's signed thru 2010, so if he stinks it up next season he'll be gone.

I hate all these comparisons, to Montana, to Ryan Leaf, etc. Smith is Alex Smith and neither of them. We all talkin bout QB, QB, QB. But if anyone of you played football, it's not just about the QB.

YOu know the difference between a good and great team. The team steps it up.
Excuses some of you say, results is what I say. You ask QB to bring you back, he does, and you drop and fumble, on two separate occasions. Too high, too low, too wide, well then I ask you, why even pay the WR's if they cant do anything spectacular, and you have to throw it perfect every time. Give me a break. But thats ok, All day everyday, i hear the same thing on sports channels in regards to Football. They say, yeah it may have been high or low, but if your a WR, and you get two hands on the ball it should be caught. Maybe thats why the Goat was the Goat. All of Montana's and STeve's throws werent perfect, Rice caught it, and made them even better.

Sure say smith sucks, when someone puts up stats, sure knock em. But be real;

Smith no 300 game. Had his first one, and you know the words by the NFL commentators, and Matts'---That should of been enough for any qb to win the game. But nope we lost, cuz the D couldnt get it's stops when needed too.

We talk about the offense only negating the defense. Member that game where there was 3:50 left on the clock, and we kept saying D get a stop here, and lets see if the offense can win it. and what happens I ask you, they allow 2 to 3 first down conversions.

The hell with makin excuses for anyone, but you cant say let me close my eyes to the other team mistakes, but lets just focus on SMith's. Thats why i loved when a few writers, both Matts, and a few others said, yeah it was crazy that I focused so much on the offense, that i forget to look at the D.

Let me tell you Manning can score no TD's. Which hmmmm, means more than a few 3 and outs right. But the Defense doesnt say damn manning, we gotta get right back on the field. No they say lets just hold up our end and he may click.

With us, we had all that talk in the beginning of the year about a top 5 D. Does anyone notice that our D has turned it on as of late. We talk about how the O starts , but forgetting the D.

REad or not, im just saying whats so hard to support someone that wants to stay on the team and prove himself. The team wanted to get to 8-8, and some of ya'll it's like spitting in their face because of the way they got the record.

If a team won 85% of their games by 1pt, Like a Pats player said a few weeks ago, "Who cares if you win by half a point, the point is we won, and I'll take a close win, than a distant loss any day." Too bad our fans dont think like that.

When I see how long Rodgers had in GB to learn the same system and watch a HOF QB run it, and then see what he has since been able to accomplish with experienced high-quality receivers around him, I am encouraged to see what Smith can do with even a second year under the same system with more experienced players around him. Three years ago, when Smith was playing well under Turner, Green Bay fans were having this same conversation about Rodgers.